Momma's Got a Job!

Our local public library has a new addition. A new employee. Someone who really wants to work there.

Me! (Yay!)

I wasn't really looking for a job, even though I wanted one. Sure, I checked into the career boards now and then, and checked the job openings pages for our local university and community college once a month, and I did take applications to a few places a couple weeks back because I was so feeling the financial pressure.

But, as a homeschooling mom, my husband made it clear to me that he did not expect me to go out and get a job just to try to make ends meet.

But I tried to keep my eyes and ears open just in case God had a plan that meant me working in order for Him to be able to provide for our needs.

Then lo and behold, I stumbled across an ad in the newspaper ... we don't even GET the newspaper at our house! We happened to be at my in-laws to pick up a tractor on a Saturday. I picked up their's and was reading it. There was a published list of people who were behind on their taxes, some of whom I knew. I asked if they were done with the paper so I could take it home with me. I wanted to pray over those names.

It just so happens, the employment classifieds happened to be in the section of the paper that I took home.

It hit me like a ton of bricks when I saw this little ad stuck in the middle advertising a part-time, evenings and weekends position as a Children's Services Assistant at the library! What could be better?!? I already practically live there, I know the Children's Services manager and another employee in that area, I can still do school during the day and Daddy can be with them in the evenings, and besides earning a small paycheck, I can make a contribution to our community.

I whipped up a resume to turn in with the application they required. I hand-delivered it on a Sunday afternoon, 6 days before their deadline. They called me the day of the deadline (Friday), asked if I'd like to come in on Tuesday for an interview. (Would I?!?) I interviewed on Tuesday and was offered the job on Wednesday --- a week and half after delivering the resume. It was meant to be.

I start on Monday. Today is Saturday. I can't wait!

My To Do list hasn't changed for this weekend though ... "Go to library" is still on it!

Watch out, world! Momma's finally got a job!

Where Do You Grow?

It’s In the Valleys I Grow
by Jane J. Eggleston

Sometimes life seems hard to bear,
Full of sorrow, trouble and woe.
It’s then I have to remember
That it’s in the valleys I grow.

If I always stayed on the mountain top
And never experienced some pain
I would never appreciate God’s love
And I would be living in vain.

I have so much to learn
And my growth is very slow.
Sometimes I need the mountain tops,
But it’s in the valleys that I grow.

I do not always understand
Why things happen as they do
But, I am very sure of one thing,
My Lord will see me through.

He’s never failed me yet
Since His grace I’ve come to know,
And I can face life’s problems
For it’s in the valleys I grow.

My little valleys are nothing
When I picture Christ on the cross
He went through the valley of death
His victory was Satan’s loss.

Forgive me, Lord, for complaining
When I’m feeling so very low.
Just give me a gentle reminder
That it’s in the valleys I grow.

Continue to strengthen me, Lord
And use my life each day
To share your love with others
And help them find their way.

Thank you for the valleys, Lord
For this one thing I know
The mountain tops are glorious
But it’s in the valleys I grow.

Copyright © 1977, 2005 by Jane J. Eggleston (Williamsburg, Virginia).

That would be no.

The answer is no.

We are not moving! Anyone who follows me on Facebook already knows this only too well.

I am ecstatic! I am thrilled! Now I can just get on with my life! Yay!!!!!

So, getting on with my life ... ugh. The 8-year-old son is crying. The 10-year-old daughter caused it. She's now here to admit that she hit him because he was having an attitude with her and she didn't like it.

I sent her off to go fix the problem. She caused it, she can fix it.

Back to my life ... my printer bit the dust. Not fair!!! Every penny we've saved has gone into our new barn, every penny we can get on credit is being considered toward the new barn. I don't have money for a new printer! And I use my printer/copier multiple times a day for our school work! Errrggg! Not fair!!!

Things I want ( but not really):

• to go back to work so I have more money
• to send my kids back to school so someone else can deal with them
• to live closer to a grocery store, the library, and more neighbors for the kids to play with

Things I want (really):

• for my kids to just get along
• for my kids to WANT to do schoolwork all day everyday
• a new printer/copier with a lifetime supply of free ink and paper
• for groceries to be magically delivered to my door daily, for free (a girl can dream, right?)

Things I have:

• the freedom to worship as I choose
• the freedom to educate my children at home, any way I'd like
• an extremely supportive husband
• good friends
• a barn (it's not built yet, and it's not actually truly paid for either (dang debt), but all that wood and steel is mine, by golly!

I'm reminding myself that it's good to count my blessings. Hope you're counting yours, too!

Decisions, Decisions

What's it gonna be, Girl? Yes, or, noooooo???

I don't know. Still.

My dear, darling husband has been offered a new job. It's a great offer. It might be the answer to our prayers about him being delivered from his current awful job. We didn't go looking for this job. It came to him. And they REALLY want him.

But we will have to move if he takes it.

Brian has lived in this county all his life. Grew up here, went to college here, settled here.
I came to this county at the tender age of 17 for college and never left! I like it here.

But I might like it "there" too.
Facebook allows me to stay friends with people all over the world.
There are so many what-if's, I can't sleep at night.

I just want to know, for sure, which way we're heading with this ... going or staying? Either way, I can wrap my mind around it. But I can't keep up with all the gazillion mind-numbing thoughts that are plaguing me in the interim.

Oops, that's him calling now.

I just wish I knew how to blog better!
And I wish I had more time to figure out how to blog better.
And I wish I had more money.
There. I said it.

Mother's/Teacher's Instincts

Sometimes you just have to trust your instincts.
Especially as a homeschool teacher. Especially as a homeschool teacher!

On Monday, we had our official first full day of school.
On Tuesday, we were burnt out.
Already?!? After only one day?!?


Well ... yeah. And since it's just me, myself, and I running this school (with hubby's limitless support), it's up to me to analyze why.

Let's see, on Monday we did a full day of schoolwork. We stuck with it and got it all done during the day. We made progress in subjects the schools measure.


Hmmm, maybe I see the problem here. I think my brain was in "public school mode." And the results: burn out.

I changed tactics for Tuesday. I let the kids lead the day. What they ended up doing was "playing" with the Legos all day. These kids are 10 and almost-9. 5th grade and 3rd grade. They did not just "play" with Legos. They CREATED with Legos! If you could only see the things they created! Amazing!

I went with my instincts of just backing off yesterday in order to avoid having us burn out before the first week of school is over, and it paid off. They worked cooperatively, creatively, & created masterpieces (they are not the type to build Lego kits from beginning to end; they just use the pieces from kits because those pieces are more fun and interesting than standard rectangular Legos). They also problem-solved. I can truly see where days like yesterday will benefit them as adults in the workplace. Can you?!?


In the spirit of full disclosure, I must admit that they also did their math and Andrew did his phonics lesson and Annie worked through a bunch of standards-based activities in some great computer software we have.

We didn't do history or science or grammar or writing or spelling ... but my instincts tell me we still did school.

One GREAT Day!

I found them!!!
I found the missing test results that have to be sent to the superintendent before the first day of public school! After losing sleep over this, I contacted a teacher-friend (you know, a "real" teacher - wink, wink) and asked if she would help me with the alternative to turning in standardized test results. The other option is to submit a paper signed by a "certified teacher" stating that she had reviewed samples from my children's portfolios and found that my children were progressing according to their abilities. She agreed to help. Sounds wonderful, right?!?

Not so much. Yes, problem solved, but another was created too. You see, I had known last year that I was going to have the kids take standardized tests this past spring, so I didn't keep portfolios! So, yes, my friend would help by looking at the non-existent portfolios and signing the papers for the super, but I now had to assemble the required portfolios!

Well, thank you, God! After spending time cleaning out their old binders last night (filled with labeled dividers -- as if I was planning to keep a portfolio of their work!), and typing up the form the friend would have to sign, and printing it (with my very valuable ink, I might add), and dragging book bags and piles of school papers (that were conveniently stored in several mass piles of mostly school papers) into our very neat and tidy new school room that had yet to acquire piles of papers ... yes, AFTER all this ...

I took one more look into a box that my dear, darling, helpful hubby had used to carry, um, piles of papers (etc) from the kitchen to the storage room prior to a party I was hosting. The party was less than a month after I had major surgery, so I certainly did need his help.

I had looked in this box before (when the panic set in because I couldn't find the test results), but as I dug into it, it was all stuff that pre-dated my surgery. They couldn't possibly be in there. But it was the only place I could think to check again (since I had already re-checked every single possible place 3 or 4 times). When I looked again today, I noticed, deeper in the box, under the items that pre-dated my surgery, there was a small pile of more recent stuff. A magazine, for instance! That had come well after my surgery! Gasp! Could it be?!?

I dug down even further ... and there they were! They were at the absolute bottom of the box!!!

Oh, again, thank you, Lord! You are so good to me!


I quickly assembled the rest of the packet, stuffed it, labeled it, and mailed it off!!!
Whew! Maybe now I'll sleep tonight.

On top of that, we managed to accomplish our first full day of school today! We've been building to a full day, and I had planned to have a full day, and I did it! I'm so proud of us!

What to do?!?

All I can do is pray!
I suddenly hit me early this week that I had forgotten about turning in paperwork stating our intent to homeschool again this year. (Should I really be concerned considering I looked at the classroom lists for our local school and my children are not listed?)

So, I started filling in the forms to send back to the Board of Education ... and realized I was missing something important!

We have the option here of submitting either standardized test results, or a certified teacher's evaluation. I did have the kids take the standardized tests this year, for the experience, and received the results much sooner than I ever expected.

Unfortunately, I received the results during my "living in my bed" phase ... pre-surgery. I had surgery mid-May, eliminating the need to live in my bed any longer, and renewing my entire life. Shortly after my surgery, even before I was fully and completely recovered, my mother also had a surgery and I went to stay with her for a week, then drove back and forth for yet another week.

Somehow, in all that, I managed to put those test results "somewhere." Do you think I know where that is now?!? When I need them?!?

Nope. :(

I have been looking. And looking. And looking.
Finally, I started praying. And guess what I found?!?

No, silly, not the test results. I found the library book we thought was "lost" and we still have time to return it before we have to pay for it in full! (In case you're curious, it was right where it was supposed to be ... in the library bin. Unfortunately, papers had also been thrown in there (not the test result papers -- I checked!), several coming to rest on top of this thin paperback. We've only been looking for 2 months.)

So, the prayers worked ... in a way. I found something that was lost ...

Please Lord!!! Please help me find the test results!!!
Amen.

Change of Plans!

Ok, I'm making a somewhat radical change to my curriculum plans for this year ... not that anything was actually set in stone yet, but in my heart it was.

My plan was to study just American History this year and I REALLY wanted to use All American History, Jr. from Bright Ideas Press as our curriculum, but out of respect for my family's budget, I have broken through my own stubbornness and decided I will continue with Story of the World, which I already own and I know the kids enjoy.

But I still must admit that I'm so very disappointed.
<<Whine whine. Stamp my feet! Thrash around. Groan!>>

Why, oh why, do the school districts get money to spend on our children?!? Why isn't it diverted to parents who can prove they are doing the job?!?

We're getting there!

We are slowly adding in a little more school work each day, building up to next week's new schedule. The public school kids next door head back to school on Wednesday, eliminating the "play outside all day" schedule of summer.

Today we've already completed Spelling, Grammar, Reading, and they are almost done with their Math Placement Tests. We didn't start until after 10:30, they took a break for lunch, and it's now not quite 1:00. And they're almost done!

I do believe that when the "school year" really starts, we'll be good to go!